Only 11 of the 20 are artist albums, with the other half being cast recordings or soundtracks that were once eligible for the Official Albums Chart. In the case of the Top 5 albums, they were released in the late 1950s, when the UK albums chart was limited to a Top 10, and 1960s, when it was expanded to a Top 20.

The first artist album to really hold its own in the Top 10 was Simon & Garfunkel's A Bridge Over Troubled Water, released in 1970 (when the chart was a Top 60) and a true phenomenon, logging 33 weeks at Number 1 and 135 weeks inside the Top 10, a staggering 92 of which were consecutive.

Ed Sheeran is the only artist with multiple entries, featuring with 2017's Divide (76 consecutive weeks in the Top 10) and 2014's X (74 weeks). Adele's seemingly unstoppable-at-the-time 21 claimed 71 consecutive weeks in the top flight across 2011-2012, 23 of which were at Number 1.

Two more debut albums feature: Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour from 2014 logged an impressive 69 consecutive weeks in the Top 10, while Emeli Sande's Our Version Of Events, released in 2012, scored 66 straight weeks, including ten at Number 1.